Exploring maps and data for all known US mariculture farms

Overview

There are 23 states with marine coasts.

There is comprehensive downloadable data for 7 states:

  • Maine, Alaska, New Hampshire, Connecticut, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Alabama

There are publicly available map viewers (leases or farm locations) which seem to be comprehensive, but are NOT downloadable for 1 state:

  • Virginia

There is general info on lease holders, what they farm, and what municipality or city they are in for 6 states:

  • California: general areas with acreage for commercial farms
  • Oregon: map of places were commercial harvest/growing is allowed
  • New Jersey: Have pdf maps of all existing shellfish leases and those issued in 2020
  • Massachusetts: Have number of growers per municipality with acreage and species type; also a subset of farms are available in the NE data viewer.
  • South Carolina: Apparently have 9 oyster farms as of 2021
  • Washington: Approximate locations of commercial net pens.

Subset of farms or outdated downloadable for 2 states:

  • Florida: A map of mariculture farms which are at risk of oil spills
  • Maryland: Have INDIVIDUAL pdf maps of all lease applications and if they were accepted or not… And was able to download lease data from 2015.

Couldn’t really find any information on 4 states:

  • Hawaii, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi

Probably no mariculture for 2 states:

  • Delaware: Commercial harvest is illegal; apparently one farm but not production
  • Georgia: From what I could tell, oyster farming was illegal here as recent as 2020
  • No production

Comprehensive, downloadable

Maine

  • https://www.maine.gov/dmr/aquaculture/leases/aquaculturemap.html
  • I think we will want to use both “limited purpose” and regular leases.
  • Limited purpose leases are for scientific or smaller/shorter term mariculture projects, that last up to 3 years.
  • I think this can be considered “comprehensive”.
  • Update to date as of September 2021.
  • Has species types specified.
  • Red polygons for the leases. Blue points for the limited purpose. Limited purpose has length and width measurements, so regardless we will have area for both if needed.

Alaska

New Hampshire

Connecticut

From the Northeast ocean council dataset:

“Connecticut – Data on Connecticut aquaculture was derived from two datasets provided by the State of Connecticut Department of Agriculture/Bureau of Aquaculture and the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. One dataset contains the location of natural shellfish beds. Natural beds managed by the state, town or used for recreational harvesting were selected from this dataset, resulting in 1855 polygons. The number of beds in use at any given time is subject to change. The second dataset contains 46 polygons representing the approximate geographical location of permitted “Certificate for Aquaculture Operation” gear sites in the Connecticut coastal waters of Long Island Sound via the State of Connecticut Application for Joint Programmatic General Permit for Aquaculture Department of the Army General Permit. These datasets are up to date as of January 15, 2016. For more information on CT Aquaculture and Shellfish, see the CT Aquaculture Mapping Atlas.”

Map combined with NY, this is what we need (seaweed and shellfish). We will extract the data using the methods described below: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f8799cefbb4c4751a209710d14b9ad46

Extract data following these protocols: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50161492/how-do-i-scrape-data-from-an-arcgis-online-map/50213419#50213419

CT points json: https://services7.arcgis.com/9fAJJI91yoj2y4Yi/arcgis/rest/services/ConnecticutShellfishOnline2018Draft/FeatureServer/0/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=json

CT polygons json: https://services7.arcgis.com/9fAJJI91yoj2y4Yi/arcgis/rest/services/ConnecticutShellfishOnline2018Draft/FeatureServer/1/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=json

Roadmap for polygons

Viewer: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f8799cefbb4c4751a209710d14b9ad46

Item data endpoint (just replace id): https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/f8799cefbb4c4751a209710d14b9ad46/data

Search for layer you want and grab link (“CT Aquaculture Gear): https://services7.arcgis.com/9fAJJI91yoj2y4Yi/arcgis/rest/services/ConnecticutShellfishOnline2018Draft/FeatureServer/1

Run query using that link to output geojson: https://services7.arcgis.com/9fAJJI91yoj2y4Yi/arcgis/rest/services/ConnecticutShellfishOnline2018Draft/FeatureServer/1/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=geojson

And copy-paste the text in here to save as geojson: https://geojson.io

Check the downloaded geojson file:

library(geojsonio)
## Warning in fun(libname, pkgname): rgeos: versions of GEOS runtime 3.9.1-CAPI-1.14.2
## and GEOS at installation 3.9.0-CAPI-1.16.2differ
## Registered S3 method overwritten by 'geojsonsf':
##   method        from   
##   print.geojson geojson
## 
## Attaching package: 'geojsonio'
## The following object is masked from 'package:base':
## 
##     pretty
spdf <- geojson_read("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Connecticut/CT_Aquaculture_gear/CT_aquaculture_gear.geojson",  what = "sp") %>%
  st_as_sf()


mapview(spdf)
# library(geojsonio)
# spdf <- geojson_read("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Connecticut/CT_aquacultre_points/CT_aquaculture_points.geojson",  what = "sp") %>%
#   st_as_sf()
# 
# 
# plot(spdf)
# 
# mapview(spdf)

North Carolina

Shellfish

Roadmap to download

Viewer: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=de86f3bb9e634005b12f69a8a5947367&extent=-8551979.8781%2C4121555.1994%2C-8515290.1046%2C4140072.0696%2C102100

Item data endpoint (just replace id): https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/de86f3bb9e634005b12f69a8a5947367/data

Search for layer you want and grab link (“Leases” is the layer you want): https://services2.arcgis.com/kCu40SDxsCGcuUWO/arcgis/rest/services/Lease_DB_View/FeatureServer/2

Run query using that link to output geojson: https://services2.arcgis.com/kCu40SDxsCGcuUWO/arcgis/rest/services/Lease_DB_View/FeatureServer/2/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=geojson

And copy-paste the text in here to save as geojson: https://geojson.io. Once it shows in the map, click “Save” and Save as a geojson file.

Check to see if it worked

library(geojsonio)
spdf <- geojson_read("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/North_Carolina/NC_shellfish_leases.geojson",  what = "sp") %>%
  st_as_sf()


mapview(spdf)

Rhode Island

Roadmap to download

Viewer: https://ridemgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8beb98d758f14265a84d69758d96742f

I found my way to here: https://risegis.ri.gov/hosting/rest/services/RIDEM/Marine_Fisheries_Map_Layers/MapServer/0

Then run query using that link to output geojson: https://risegis.ri.gov/hosting/rest/services/RIDEM/Marine_Fisheries_Map_Layers/MapServer/0/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=geojson

And copy-paste the text in here to save as kml (for some reason, saving as geojson was not working for this one): https://geojson.io. Once it shows in the map, click “Save” and Save as a kml file.

Check to see if it worked

rhode_island <- read_sf("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Rhode_Island/ri_aq_sites.kml")

mapview(rhode_island)

Alabama

Roadmap to download

Viewer: https://aldcnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a32dad8dacd249ea86bcb80dd951a424

Item data endpoint (just replace id): https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/a32dad8dacd249ea86bcb80dd951a424/data

Search for layer you want and grab link (“Leases” is the layer you want): https://services7.arcgis.com/jcVUvxpWnajErgCr/arcgis/rest/services/Shellfish_Riparian_Leases_Revised/FeatureServer/0

Run query using that link to output geojson: https://services7.arcgis.com/jcVUvxpWnajErgCr/arcgis/rest/services/Shellfish_Riparian_Leases_Revised/FeatureServer/0/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=geojson

And copy-paste the text in here to save as geojson: https://geojson.io. Once it shows in the map, click “Save” and Save as a geojson file.

Leases current as of: 11/29/2021

library(geojsonio)
spdf <- geojson_read("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Alabama/Alabama_Shellfish_Leases.geojson",  what = "sp") %>%
  st_as_sf()


mapview(spdf)

Maps with no download

Virginia

Shellfish

General lease info, areas, etc

California

New Jersey

https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/anr/sea/

  • “Currently, the program licenses more than 100 finfish, shellfish and aquatic plant producers in the state.”

https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/marine/shellfish_leasing_policy_atlantic.pdf

Massachusetts

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/aquaculture - “Massachusetts has 378 shellfish leases. Shellfish farms are a source of healthy protein and can contribute to healthy marine ecosystems by cleaning the water column, providing habitat for other sea life, and helping protect shorelines from storm surges and sea level rise. - Sean Bowen:

https://www.mass.gov/doc/2020-dmf-annual-report/download - 386 “private shellfish propogation” permits in 2020

- Also has production data per town or region.

Washington

Approved growing areas map

“DNR leases deep water sites for finfish net pens and floating shellfish rafts and longlines. Salmon aquaculture operations have existed in Washington since the 1970s and are scattered throughout Puget Sound. Current net pen leases include salmon aquaculture, delayed-release salmon, and herring. The use of floating shellfish culture began in 1975 with mussel raft culture in Penn Cove. Current floating shellfish culture on rafts or longlines include oysters, mussels, and scallops.”

Locations of commercial marine net pens - https://ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Shoreline-coastal-management/Aquaculture/Net-pens

Subset available

US Northeast dataset

Source: Northeast Regional Ocean Council, 2018. Northeast ocean data: aquaculture. [Accessed January 17, 2020] https://www.northeastoceandata.org/data-download/

“This dataset should be considered a work in progress”

States:

  • NY
  • CT
  • ME
  • NH
  • MA
  • Federal waters

Species: - “Shellfish” “Multi-trophic or other” “Seaweed” “Finfish”

This data set is not “comprehensive” but provides good sources to look through for individual states (see below). These are polygons.

Florida

“ESI Human Use and Socio-Economc Resources Points” data

  • https://geodata.myfwc.com/datasets/myfwc::esi-human-use-and-socio-economic-resources-points-florida/about
  • 2015 data
  • 64 sites
  • Point data, no area
  • Not comprehensive (?), only represents points which are at risk from oil spills (which could be relevant to our project).

Other than the above, I can’t find much info for Florida. Google maps shows a couple shrimp farms.

Maryland

Shellfish

List of farms for VA and MD (addresses are on land though): https://oysterrecovery.org/oyster-farms/

Maryland has a viewer for 2013 active leases: https://maryland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f7db2acc81554601b44c13733a66a60f

  • This viewer has a layer named “ActiveOysterLeases”, however, it looks like the last time it was updated is 2013.. I will still download this. Worst case we use this.

I found the layer here: https://gisapps.dnr.state.md.us/arcgis2/rest/services/Biota/ActiveOysterLeases/MapServer/0

Run query using that link to output json (for some reason it won’t let me output geojson): https://gisapps.dnr.state.md.us/arcgis2/rest/services/Biota/ActiveOysterLeases/MapServer/0/query?where=0%3D0&outFields=%2A&f=json

md <- st_read(file.path("/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Maryland/maryland_2013_oyster_leases.shp"))
## Reading layer `maryland_2013_oyster_leases' from data source 
##   `/home/shares/food-systems/Food_footprint/_raw_data/Aquaculture_locations/USA/Maryland/maryland_2013_oyster_leases.shp' 
##   using driver `ESRI Shapefile'
## Simple feature collection with 467 features and 2 fields
## Geometry type: MULTIPOLYGON
## Dimension:     XY
## Bounding box:  xmin: -76.87178 ymin: 37.95817 xmax: -75.15136 ymax: 39.07969
## Geodetic CRS:  WGS 84

All states

Not much info

Mississippi

  • Can’t much info on Mississippi mariculture..

Louisana

  • Pretty much all freshwater from what I can tell.

Texas

http://www.texasaquaculture.org/TxShrimpFms.html - They have 9 Texas locations listed here. One is definitely freshwater prawns. Unclear if they are land-based or not (I guess all shrimp farms are techincally land-based since they are ponds). Need to explore these more. - These are current as of 2018.

Hawaii

https://hdoa.hawaii.gov/ai/aquaculture-and-livestock-support-services-branch/aquaculture-in-hawaii/

  • Not much info. There is definitely both offshore aquaculture and shrimp aquaculture in Hawaii.

No mariculture?

Delaware

“Delaware is the only coastal state with no commercial shellfish aquaculture; a multimillion dollar business in our neighboring states up and down the East Coast.”

  • Don’t have to worry about Delaware.

Georgia

New York

  • According to Halley, there is currently no production in New York state, especially since their coastline is so small.

Species/production breakdown for US

Take a look at the species in the US that FAO reports

fao_data_all <- read_csv("../../data/fao_aquaculture_clean.csv")

fao_data_us <- fao_data_all %>%
  filter(iso3c == "USA")


fao_data_us_group <- fao_data_us %>%
  filter(year == 2018)

marine <- fao_data_us_group %>%
  filter(environment == "Marine") %>%
  filter(!is.na(value))

# unique(marine$species)

# 16 marine spp
#  [1] "Atlantic salmon"             "Blue mussel"                 "Northern quahog(=Hard clam)"
#  [4] "Sand gaper"                  "American cupped oyster"      "Red drum"                   
#  [7] "Whiteleg shrimp"             "Longfin yellowtail"          "Abalones nei"               
# [10] "Butter clam"                 "Cupped oysters nei"          "Japanese carpet shell"      
# [13] "Marine fishes nei"           "Pacific cupped oyster"       "Pacific geoduck"            
# [16] "Pacific littleneck clam"   

## there were 4 species with NA production (so actually 20 marine species total)
marine_na <- fao_data_us_group %>%
  filter(environment == "Marine") %>%
  filter(is.na(value))
#unique(marine_na$species)
# [1] "Cockles nei"          "European flat oyster" "Olympia oyster"       "Pacific horse clam"  

# sum(marine$value, na.rm = TRUE) 

# 203687 total tonnes for marine.. does this seem correct?

FAO reports 16 different marine species of production in 2018. Additionally, there were 4 species that were previously harvested but had no harvest for 2018. FAO reports a total of 203687 live weight tonnes for 2018.

NOAA Fisheries of the United States 2019 Report: https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-05/FUS2019-FINAL-webready-2.3.pdf?null=

  • NOAA report 44094 metric tonnes of marine aquaculture production for 2018… versus 203687 from FAO. I think this has to do with NOAA reporting meat weight and FAO reporting live weight (includes shells)
  • NOAA also reports that the Gulf region produces th e most marine aquaculture by volume.. which seems problematic for us considering we have very poor farm level data for the Gulf states.

gulf

2018 Census of Aquaculture: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/Aquaculture/Aqua.pdf

  • Table 1 shows aquaculture farms per state, but it is not split between marine and freshwater from what I can tell. Also split by species group (mollusk, crustaceans, etc.)

  • Table 10 shows saltwater acres and number of farms used for aquaculture production. However, there are landlocked states, so we don’t know if it is actually marine or on-land saltwater aquaculture. It does seem reasonable that this would be pretty close to the actual number of farms..

  • Table 11 shows sources of water, with “Saltwater” included. This is just where the water comes from.

  • Table 12 mollusks off bottom seems reasonable to think most of these will be in marine environments. Almost all of the states listed are coastal states.

  • It seems like “Mollusks off bottom”, “Mollusks on bottom”, “Sea vegetables” are the only ones that I am 80% sure are marine farms…

  • They also have data at the county level. I know this wouldn’t be perfect, but we could filter for coastal counties.

Climate stressors for marine aquaculture